First published in 1997, this report examines the classic social policy question of whether pensions should be paid only to those with relatively few other resources, so that scarce funds go to the people who need them most, or whether it is more just, and pensions are more willingly funded, when everyone can expect to get one in their turn.
Since the 1980s, the scale of social expenditure has come into question in most advanced industrial nations. The large shar of this expenditure devoted to the support of the aged, amidst growing numbers of old and very old people, has put age pensions at...